The Lobster Fishery of Maine | Page 8

the bottom is sandy they are set farther from shore. Lobsters are most
numerous on a rocky bottom. In the trawl method the pots are usually
set about 30 feet apart, depending on the depth of water, so that when
one pot is in the boat the next will be on the bottom. The ground lines
have large anchors at each end and a floating buoy tied to a strong line,
which is fastened to the ground line almost 25 fathoms from the
anchors. When the last pot is hauled the anchor is far enough away to
hold the boat in position. The pots are set at distances from the shore
ranging from 100 yards to 5 or 6 miles. This method of setting pots was
first used about the year 1865 in Sagadahoc County. The traps are set in
from 3 to 10 fathoms in the warm season.
In winter fishing the pots are generally set singly, as the lobsters are
more scattered then and the best results are attained by shifting the
position of the pots slightly each time they are fished. This is caused by
the drift of the boat while the fisherman is hauling in the pot, emptying
and rebaiting it, and then dropping it overboard again. The winter
fishing is generally carried on in the open sea, although in a few places,
like Sheepscot Bay, the lobsters in winter retire to the deep waters of
the bays and can there be caught. The pots are generally set in from 20
to 50 fathoms of water at this season.
Certain fishermen claim that when pots are set on a trawl placed across
the tide the catch is greater than when the trawl is set in the direction of
the current. In the former case, it is asserted, the scent or fine particles
coming from the bait is more widely diffused and more apt to attract
the lobsters. In entering, after first reconnoitering around and over the
pot, the lobster always backs in, primarily that he may be prepared to
meet any foe following him, also because his large claws would be apt
to catch in the net funnel should he enter head first. After discovering
that he is imprisoned, which he does very speedily, he seems to lose all
desire for the bait, and spends his time roaming around the pot hunting
for a means of escape.
The pots are generally hauled once a day, but sometimes twice a day in

good weather. As the tide along the Maine coast is quite strong, the
fishermen usually haul their pots at or about slack water, low tide
generally being preferred when they are worked once a day. The
number used by a fisherman varies greatly on different sections of the
coast. According to the investigations of this Commission, the average
number of pots to the man in certain years was as follows: Fifty-six
pots in 1880, 59 in 1887 and 1888, 58 in 1889 and 1892, and 50 in
1898. This average, however, is somewhat misleading, as quite a
number of persons along the coast take up lobstering for only a few
months in the year, and then return to their regular occupations. As
these persons use but few pots, the average per man throughout the
whole State is very considerably reduced. The regular lobster fishermen
have been steadily increasing the number of their pots for several years
past. They have found this an absolute necessity in order to catch as
many lobsters now as they caught twenty or thirty years ago. It is not
unusual now to find one of the regular fishermen handling as high as
100 pots, and sometimes even 125, when a few years ago 25 and 50
pots was a large number. This does not take into account his reserve
stock of pots, which it is necessary to have on hand in order to replace
those damaged or lost.
[Illustration: Fishermen operating their pots]

BAIT.
Cod, hake, and halibut heads are quite generally used as bait. Halibut
heads are said to be the best, as they are tougher than the cod or hake
heads, and thus last much longer. Sculpins, flounders, in fact almost
any kind of fish, can be used. In the vicinity of sardine canneries the
heads of herring are used. Sometimes the bait is slightly salted, at other
times it is used fresh. Small herring are lightly salted, and then allowed
to remain until partly decayed, when they are inclosed in small bags,
and these put into the pots. The oil from this bait forms a "slick" in the
water, and when the smell from it is strong the fishermen consider it at
its best. The bait is generally secured by small haul-seines and spears in
sections where offal